A mannequin (window dummy or lay figure) on which a cloth, a dress, a hat or a decorative accessory is placed, has been widely used in shop-fronts and show windows to attract the attention of customers and to tempt the customer to buy the goods shown on the mannequin.
Generally, such a mannequin is covered with a skin surface layer made of a synthetic resin so as to impart thereto a facial expression as close to that of a man or woman as possible, or to reduce the weight and cost of the mannequin. However, when the surface of the synthetic resin layer is to be made up with a conventional make-up material for the human body, the following difficulties are encountered.
1. The make-up material does not adhere to the surface of the skin layer and cannot be fixed on the surface of the skin to a satisfactory extent.
2. The make-up material cannot be uniformly spread on the surface of the skin layer of the mannequin and forms undesirable spots thereon.
3. The coloring matters contained in the make-up material dyes the skin layer of the mannequin, so that these matters remain on the surface layer of the mannequin after the make-up material is washed away. Accordingly, it is impossible to make up the mannequin with conventional make-up products for the human body.
An attempt has been made to make up mannequins with a paint. However, in this case, the resultant made-up skin surface exhibits an appearance significantly different from that of a commonly made-up skin of a human body. Also, it is extremely difficult to change the color of the painted skin surface to a desired color.
Under the above-mentioned circumstances, making-up of a mannequin has not been widely practiced, notwithstanding the fact that there is a strong desire to use mannequins suitably made-up for the dress or decorative goods placed on the mannequin.
On the other hand, in the sale of cosmetics at a store, frequently a beauty instructor or a customer acts as a model and makes up herself or himself with the cosmetics in order to demonstrate the effect of the cosmetics to the customer and to propagate them to the customer. A repeated making-up and washing of the face for such purposes is sometimes detrimental to the skin of the beauty instructor or customer. Also, when the customer is a model, it is difficult for the customer herself or himself to recognize the make-up effect resulting from the cosmetics. In some cases, the customer must wash the make-up, which causes inconvenience to the customer. Accordingly, there is a need for a process for making up a mannequin which is easy to carry out and allows the repeated make-up and washing operations to be applied to the mannequin.
As a result of extensive studies conducted by the present inventors, it has been discovered that, when a mannequin having a skin layer made of a synthetic resin is previously undercoated with a special foundation composition consisting essentially of a fine powdery material and a film-forming material, it becomes possible to make up the undercoated skin layer surface of the mannequin with a make-up material suitable for the human body in exactly the same manner as that used in making up the human body. From this discovery, the inventors have accomplished the present invention.